The present disclosure relates generally to the field of batteries and battery systems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to battery systems that may be used in vehicular contexts, as well as other energy storage/expending applications.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Vehicles generally use one or more battery systems to power features in the vehicle including the air conditioning, radio, alarm system, and other electronic systems. To reduce the amount of undesirable emissions produced and improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles, improvements have been made to vehicle technologies. For example, some vehicles, such as a micro-hybrid vehicle, may disable the internal combustion engine when the vehicle is stationary and utilize a battery system to continue powering the electronics as well as restarting (e.g., cranking) the engine when propulsion is desired. As used herein, the ability to disable the engine and restart the engine when a vehicle is stationary is referred to as an “auto-stop” operation.
Accordingly, since the battery system cannot generally recharge during auto-stop, the stability of the vehicle operation may be improved and operation of the vehicle may be optimized by monitoring the ability of the battery system to supply power to the vehicle. For example, this may include determining the state of charge (SOC) of the battery system.